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On Travelling Hopefully (Some aspects of the difficulties of working with patients with obsessional thought disorder)
Author(s) -
Gerrard Jackie,
Stevenson Robert Louis
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
british journal of psychotherapy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.442
H-Index - 17
eISSN - 1752-0118
pISSN - 0265-9883
DOI - 10.1111/j.1752-0118.1989.tb01097.x
Subject(s) - psychology , psychic , fantasy , space (punctuation) , psychoanalysis , psychotherapist , medicine , art , linguistics , philosophy , alternative medicine , literature , pathology
SUMMARY This paper examines the difficulties in working with two patients who are heavily defended by obsessional thought patterns and thus do not have the psychic freedom desirable for analytical work. Their capacities for fantasy and symbolisation are impaired, and they have not been able to approach their therapy as a space for‘travelling hopefully’. A better understanding of the literature on early damage, particularly with regard to‘autistic barriers’, has helped to modify my technique and expectations.